Fire Prince's Maelstrom
by ANHWincester
Summary: FemNaru. There was something about Prince Zuko that made her want to follow him. Even though he was irritating, hot-tempered and the most stubborn boy she knew, Naruto could not find it in herself to leave the boy alone in his journey.
1. Chapter 1

If there was one person in her village who was a complete mystery to Katara, it was Uzumaki Naru.

Unlike everyone in the village, Naru wasn't born in their tiny village. She came to this village over a year ago with nothing but the clothes on her back and a backpack filled with scrolls and food, which couldn't be found in anyplace in the world. Everyone in the village didn't know where she come from. Her appearance was not of the Fire Nation, who all had dark hair, nor was it of the Earth Kingdom, who had dark or green eyes. Naru was definitely not a member of a water tribe, her eyes may be blue but her skin and hair didn't match them. She might be an air normad but all the air normads died over a hundred years ago.

The one thing everyone could be certain about the blond-haired girl who appeared in their village was Naru was too young to be living by herself. Naru was the same age as Sokka though the girl acted even less mature then her brother at times, always making some kind of prank to the villager. Still the girl came here by herself and no one knew why. Katara once asked the girl why she came here, only to have the girl give her a small smile and tell her one day when she was ready, she would tell her why.

Katara didn't miss the pain and sadness in her eyes when Naru answered her question. It only made her wonder what happened to her home for the girl to make her look so sad and pained. Maybe, the fire nation did something to her home for her to feel sad.

Shaking her head, Katara glanced at the slouching blond-haired girl. It didn't matter where the girl came from or what happened to her home, she decided as Naru smiled, the girl was a part of their village now. Naru spent a year with them, helping her with the cleaning and sewing as well as making it possible for them to get enough food for the winter.

"So how long will it be before you capture a fish, Sokka?" Naru asked, cocking her head to avoid the sun glare. "We've been here since morning and you still haven't caught a fish."

"I'm going to get a fish!" He snapped, licking his lips when the fish was in his line of sight. "Now watch and learn Naru, Katara. This is how you catch a fish."

"I ain't learning a lesson from the guy who didn't catch a single fish in the past six hours," Sokka twisted his head and glared at the yawning girl. Crossing her arms against her chest, Naru scowled. "You want me to lie? It's been six hours and you still haven't caught a damn single fish, not even a small one."

"Do you want to try it?"

"No, thank you," Naru answered, rolling her eyes. "I don't want to hear you make some stupid ass comment about how I got lucky when we both know it was pure skill. Besides, I want a day off from hunting and chores."

"Then why did you ask to come with us?"

Shrugging her shoulder, Naru answered. "Cuz I didn't feel like doing any training or chores, especially chores to do with your clothes."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Sokka demanded. Naru wrinkled her nose but made no attempts in explaining to her brother about how bad his clothes were, which was a surprise if you asked Katara. The blond-haired girl always made it a point to be honest about her feelings on certain matters, one of them being Sokka having to learn how to clean his stuff. Katara wished her grandmother and the other woman in the tribe agreed with Naru about making the boy clean his clothes. If her brother knew the pain they went through of cleaning his clothes, his brother might appreciate them more.

Katara tuned her brother off when he started giving Naru a rant about how females should do all the cleaning. She glanced down at the water, noticing a fish swimming towards the canoe, and then looked at her ranting brother and the relaxed blonde. Maybe if she got the fish out of the water then they all could go home, where her grandmother could cook food for the three of them.

Well the three of them if Naru decided she wanted to eat with them.

Nodding her head, Katara took out her gloves and made swirling motions with her hands. Her heart raced as the water with the fish started to come out of the water, hanging up in the air ready for her to put it in the basket Naru placed in the canoe. She glanced at the blond-haired girl, who stared at the globe of water with wide eyes. Katara felt her heart swelled in pride at seeing the girl's surprise. Even after all the times Naru came with them, the girl always looked so taken back whenever she did water-bending.

"Sokka! Look!"

"Katara, be like Naru and keep quiet," Katara narrowed her eyes at her brother while Naru gritted her teeth. "You're gonna scare it away."

"Yeah Sokka, look at your sister!" Naru whistled and shook her head at her brother. "Y'know you should leave the hunting to Katara when it comes to fish, water is her element after all."

"Just because she can water bend, doesn't mean she can capture fish like I can."

"No, it means she can do it better than you," The blonde pointed out, rolling her eyes at him. Katara grinned at the girl but her smile faded when she realized the water surrounding the fish was wobbling. She twisted her hands and felt dread set in as the fish started getting closer and closer to Sokka's spear. If her brother lifted his spear then everything she did would be for nothing.

When her brother tilted his arm back, the blunt end of the spear made contact with the globe of water and burst it open, sending the fish flying towards the sea. Giving her a smile, Naru ruffled her hair before laughing boisterously at the sight of her drenching wet brother.

Sokka glared at the laughing blonde. "This isn't funny."

"From my spot in the boat, it is funny," Naru argued, failing to rein in her laughter. "This so makes up for all the sexist comments you made so far in these past six hours."

"So you think me making comments, which are true, is the reason why everytime my sister plays with magic water I get soaked?"

"No, I think it's because you don't listen and pay attention to your sister," The blue-eyed girl pointed out, stretching her arms. "Y'know your sister isn't like me, she wouldn't soak you in water on purpose. I, on the other hand, would pay you back for everything you said if I had her water-bending. You getting wet wasn't her fault, it's your own damn fault for not paying attention to her."

"I wouldn't have gotten wet if my sister kept her weirdness to herself."

Katara grew annoyed at her brother's words. She was weird? Compare to a lot of people in their village, Katara considered herself normal especially if she compared herself to Naru. The blond-haired girl could capture sixty fish in one hour alone without anyone helping her and sometimes said the weirdest things like telling her brother to look underneath the underneath when he asked her, how she could get so much food in a single hour.

"Y'know compare to a lot of people I know, your sister is normal," Naru tilted her head up to the sky. "Besides, everyone is weird in their own special way, Sokka. At least your sister doesn't check herself out whenever she sees her reflection, unlike a certain someone I know."

"I don't check myself out!"

"I never said it was you did I? But thanks for telling me how much love you have for yourself."

Sokka scowled and put his arms down, earning a smirk from the blond-haired girl. Laughing, Katara shook her head at the antics of her brother and friend. Even after knowing the girl for a year, her brother always raise to Naru's baits.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the canoe shook, causing her along with Naru and Sokka to fall on the canoe's flooring. Blinking her eyes, Katara pushed herself up and saw they entered an ice-packed area. Without a second thought, the three of them placed the paddle on either side of the boat and pushed against the ice-berg, hoping the force from the paddles would be enough to move the canoe.

The canoe did move but the situation went from bad to worse: the boat was now heading towards the other ice berg with the help of the sea current.

"Go left! Sokka, Naru! Go left!" Katara yelled to them as they struggled to row the canoe properly.

"What do we think we're doing, Katara? It ain't easy as it looks," Naru pointed out to her as she tried to regain control of the boat. "And can't you use water-bending to get us out of this mess? Cuz I think it's time for you to do it."

"Yeah Katara!"

"I'm not good enough to do this!"

"You don't know until you try! Now try it!" Naru yelled at her. Katara nodded her head and moved her hands, hoping the water would follow her movement and not cause them to crash into anything. She paled when she saw they were heading towards three ice-bergs. No way would she have enough time to gain the control of the current before they reached them.

 _Bump_

Katara blinked her eyes as she realized Naru hauled her and Sokka off the canoe before the canoe collided with the iceberg. She looked up at the blonde and smiled shakily at the older girl, who gave her a thumbs up before scruntching her face. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it when she saw the worried look on the blonde's face. Licking her dried lips, Katara glanced at her brother and sighed in relief at the lack of injuries on her brother's body.

"How the hell are we going to get back now?" Naru finally asked as her brother pushed himself off the icy ground. The blonde rubbed the back of neck, looking at the floating ice around them with worry. "How do we get back to the village without a canoe?"

"We'll just have to wait for someone to come and get us," Sokka answered.

"We're going to freeze to death," Naru muttered, slipping her hands into her pockets. "Of all the ways I would die, it would be from the cold."

"Don't be so dramatic Naru!" Katara said, patting the girl on the back. "We're going to make it out of here before you know it."

"Y'know none of this would have happened if you knew how to control your waterbending!" Sokka said, drawing the two girl's attention to him.

"So it's my fault!"

"I knew I shouldn't have let the two of you come," Sokka snapped. "Leave it to a girl to screw it up."

Katara growled at her brother's words while Naru scowled and clenched her hands into a tight fist.

"You're the most sexist, immature, nut-brained," she yelled at her brother, clenching her hands into a fist and swinging them around as she tried to find the words to describe the anger she was currently feeling. Why did she have him for a brother? Naru always told her to be grateful she had a brother but it was times like this, Katara wished she was an only child or at least had a brother, who was mature. Honestly, it was Naru and her fault they were in this mess?

"Katara, I think it might be a good idea for you to calm down," Naru said, flickering her eyes to the cracking ice-berg behind Katara.

"You want me to calm down!" She yelled at the blonde, who gulped. "I thought you of all people won't take his side! He blame us for the mess we are in! This sexist idiot is saying girls always screw it up."

"I'm not taking his side! If I didn't know your grandmother would have my head, I would throw the baka into the water," Naru retorted, glaring at the boy. "I can't believe I'm saying this but we need to talk this one out instead of yelling at each other. Getting angry won't help anyone."

"You don't get it Naru!" The blonde rubbed her forehead. "When Mom died, I did all the work around the camp while that sexist brother of mine went off to play soldier."

"You think there's something wrong with being a soldier?" Naru asked, narrowing her eyes at the girl. "Do y'know what soldiers scarifice? Do y'know the things that could happen to them if they don't do their jobs properly?"

"Uh...Naru...Katara," Sokka said, trying to gain the girl's attention.

"I know what they scarifice but my brother isn't a soldier, he just a boy trying to be one," Katara yelled, moving her arms around. "He doesn't try to help me at all! He doesn't even clean his dirty laundry, you know as well as I do how bad his socks smell!"

"Then tell your grandmother to give him some more responsibilities or don't do it at all and let him do it himself," Naru yelled right back. "If you do the damn work for him, how the hell do you expect him to know how bad his socks smell? And don't do the cooking, make the idiot do it! For goodness sake, try to take some control over your damn life. It's his stuff, not yours."

"Don't tell her that!" Sokka yelled.

Naru narrowed her eyes at him. "I've every right to tell her these things. Seriously, you blame us for the mess we're in? It's not our damn fault the current started to pick up. We wouldn't even be in this mess if you had caught the damn fish on time."

"Then why the hell didn't you fish!"

"Because you're a sexist idiot who would tell me I was just lucky to catch a damn fish," She snapped. "And even if I did fish, you would have tried to make it a damn competition, which wouldn't be a problem if I didn't know it would take hours before we get back to the village."

"You shouldn't have come with us if that's what you felt, you pratically did nothing while I hunted."

"Why you little…"

Katara slammed her feet on the ground, raised her fist in the air and yelled, "Shut up you two!"

The two of them immediately shut up but there was something different about their expression. Naru looked shocked while her brother looked terrified about something. She frowned, twisted her body around and screamed as she realized the iceberg split open enitrely, disintergrating into smaller pieces. Katara held onto the edge of the ice, gasping her brother's hand as she waited for shock waves to stop. Twisting her head around, the brown-haired girl noticed the blonde wasn't holding onto anything as the ice berg shook.

When the iceberg stopped shaking, the blonde cocked her head and gestured for them to come towards her, yelling at them it was safe to come over now. If she wasn't shocked about what just happened, Katara would have rolled her eyes at the obvious statement the girl made.

"Y'know I think that was the coolest water bending trick you ever did," Naru commented, gesturing towards the smaller ice bergs. Katara blinked her eyes at the girl, uncertain whether her friend was being serious or if she was being sarcastic again. "Also, the most dangerous when I think about it."

"It made you even more freakish," Sokka commented. Naru narrowed her eyes at the boy and slapped the backside of the boy's head, earning a cry from her brother. "What's that for?"

"For insulting her like that...and for insulting my gender earlier," Naru answered firmly.

Katara gave a weak smile to the blond before gazing at the damage she had done. There were so many smaller icebergs now and more floating ice thanks to her loss of temper. She glanced at her friend, noticing there was a gazed look on her face. Naru rarely made those expressions but from what Katara knew from the times Naru had done, it meant the girl was daydreaming about something.

"Did I actually do all this?"

"Well I couldn't do a damage like this without getting near the ice," Naru pointed out to her, running her hand through her hair. "I mean I've a powerful punch but I doubt I could make a shockwave come from my fist...actually, maybe I can. I should try that one day."

"You're not that strong."

"I beat you in five seconds so your opinion doesn't count," Naru pointed out, grinning as her brother scowled at the reminder of how the girl defeated him after she asked him for a sparr. "Y'know you shouldn't feel bad for being defeated by a girl, I had a teacher who nearly got killed by one."

"Why was he nearly killed by a girl?" Sokka asked wearily.

"Cuz he was being an idiot."

Just as soon as she finished saying those words, the water below them started to glow an incandescant blue. Without any delay, Naru grabbed Sokka and Katara by their arms and jumped across to a different ice berg, throwing them down to the ground as a lighter coloured iceberg broke through the surface. Katara wanted to yell at the blond not to go near it but just like her friend, she was curious to know about the iceberg. She knew it might be dangerous after all what type of ice berg appear the way that one did?

Following Naru's footsteps, Katara walked towards the edge of the iceberg to get a better look of the iceberg. Her eyes widened when she saw a figure of a boy mediating. She gasped when she saw the boy's eyes and arrows glow. Katara glanced at Naru, only to find the girl had a strange and thoughtful look on her face as if she was debating about something.

"He's alive," Katara said loudly. "We've to help him."

Giving her a smile, Naru nodded her head in agreement and curled her hand into a fist before slamming it against the ice berg. Katara blinked her eyes as she watched the ice cracked from the sheer force of Naru's punch. The blonde grinned and looked at her brother, giving him a smug look. Sokka just scowled at Naru.

Katara grinded her teeth together as she felt the cold wind swept over her from the half-opened iceberg. Her eyes widened when she saw a shaft of white light shooting up in the air. What was that light? And where was it going? God, she wished she could ask someone about it but Naru wouldn't know anything and the same would go for her brother.

She looked away from the light and kept her eyes fixed on Naru, who kept her eyes fixed on the light. When the light died down, Katara looked away from her friend and stared at the top of the iceberg. She gasped when she saw the glowing boy appear, flickering her eyes towards her brother and friend. Her brother stared suspiciously at the boy while Naru just gazed at the marking on the boy's hands with curiosity and wonder.

"Stop!" Her brother yelled, raising his spear at the boy.

The boy stood up as the glow and residual energy faded and Katara felt her heart stopped when the boy passed out, sliding down the side of the ruined iceberg. Without a second thought, she launched herself forward and captured the boy, placing the boy on her knees. Her brother narrowed his eye and poked the boy with the blunt end of his weapon. Naru rolled her eyes and grabbed the weapon away from her brother.

"Give that back!"

"Nah, I'm keeping it until we get back to the village."

"But it's mine."

"And I took it from you because you don't know how to use it."

Katara shook her head at her brother and friend's antics before looking down at the unconscious boy. She barely glanced at Naru, who knelt beside her. Katara felt her shoulders relaxed as the boy slowly opened his eyes, revealing grey eyes that seemed to be big for his face. The boy was alive and that was the most important bit, if you asked her.

The boy took a deep breath and whispered in a weak voice, "I need to ask you something."

"What?"

"Please...come closer," The boy whispered.

"Y'know if you're pretending to be sick you better do way better than that," Naru said, drawing the boy's attention to her. "If you want something, you tell us straight away...as long as we can do it."

He laughed. "You got me! I just wanted to ask if you would go penguin sledding with me!"

Katara furrowed her eyebrows, glanced at her brother and friend, who just shrugged their shoulders at her, and answered, "Sure...I guess."

He smiled widely at her.

"Oi, kid what's your name?" Naru asked him before he could ask any questions.

"Aang."

Katara didn't know it but the moment she met Aang, was the day where everything changed. She didn't know in a span of one day, she would leave her home and be seperated from Naru, who would soon journey with her enemies. She would never know the reason for Naru's actions until the girl was forced to admit them but most of all, she never realized there was a greater danger then the Fire Nation until it was too late.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review**


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I am sorry for the very long update but I really didn't know how to make this story unique or how to write this chapter.

* * *

"What the hell are you eating?"

Naruto blinked her eyes, put down her chopsticks and stared at Sokka, who looked at her ramen cup with curiosity. Didn't he see her eat this before? She brought four year's worth of ramen before she wandered around the world. How the hell did he not know about her beautiful food? Who does not know about the food of the Gods? Oh wait, this part of the world was stranger then her own.

"Ramen," she finally answered, picking up her noodles. "And didn't your grandmother taught you to knock on someone's tent before coming in? I could have been changing for all you know. What do you want to discuss about?"

Sokka flushed a bright shade of red at her comment, speaking volumes on how the boy did not think about her state of dress before barging into her tent. She shook her head and waited for what seemed to be an eternity for the boy to answer her question.

"Can't a boy come and see his friend, Naru?"

"Not unless he wants to challenge said friend to a fight or ask them what they know about the Fire Nation," Naruto pointed out, arching her eyebrows at him. The boy spluttered at her accusations but the blonde was not going to take her words back. Ever since she admitted to them that she had been to many places, including one small trip to the Fire Nation, the boy had been demanding her to tell him about the people.

"Do you think the Fire Nation will come here, Naru?"

Naruto sighed and started to play with her chopsticks. Would they come and attack the village? Have you met my father if you been everywhere in the Earth Kingdom? Where do you come from? Those were all questions Sokka asked her. He knew her answer. The boy knew her answers, knew that nothing would have changed in the space of one year.

"Why are you asking a question that you know the answer too?"

"Everything changed since Aang appeared," Sokka reminded her. "There is no denying that light would have been bright enough to catch anyone's attention."

Well she could not deny her friend's words. That bright blue light had been blinding, a beacon so bright that it would not actually surprise her even if the Fire Nation saw the light. Still, would it warrant them coming here? She had no idea. Naruto did not know how the people of this part of the world think. She might have been living here for a while but it did not mean she knew everything.

She was still a stranger to this part of the world.

"I don't know," Naruto said, shaking her head. "I am not some fortune-teller, Sokka. I cannot predict if they will come or not but I doubt that they will. They might see the light and see that there is nothing there. If they come to the village then they will see that this village has nothing to offer them."

"Are you calling our village worthless?"

"Worthless for war."

Sokka blinked and opened his mouth to argue with her but the blonde just shook her head. Did he want her to make up some lie and say that this village had some worth? She was reckless but not stupid. Despite what the people of Konoha believed, Naruto did know things. She knew how war worked because the stories Inu used to tell her. She knew how to strategize from her pranks because planning a prank was not easy.

There were so many things to consider when planning a prank.

"How can you say that?"

"Sokka, I can't lie about these things and I'm telling you, my honest opinion," Naruto said, picking up her chopsticks. "Your village is not in any harm because you have nothing to offer them. The reason why they are so focused with the Earth Kingdom is because of the coal that they offer, and also because they have the highest population. If anything, the Earth Kingdom is more of a threat to them then your people."

The Earth Kingdom had the most people, the most land and that was why they were fearsome. She did not have to be a genius like Shikamaru or Sasuke to know this. After all, if the people worked together and become one army then it would be possible for them to crush the Fire Nation. The Water Tribes were different; unlike the Earth Kingdom, they were isolated from each other.

One huge army was better than two small armies.

"Sokka! Naru! Get out of the tent and help me introduce Aang to the villagers!"

Sighing, Naruto took her cup of ramen and walked outside of her tent, not bothering to check if her friend was following them. Better let Katara do all the talking because god knew she had been longing to finish her food. She ignored the taken back looks from the women of the tribe or the curious eyes of the children as she slurped on her delicious noodles.

"Are you actually going to eat while she does this?" Sokka grumbled as they waited for Katara to bring Aang out of the tent. "The food is going to freeze at no time if you continue to eat it at the pace you eat."

"When one is eating the food of the gods, they must take their time," Naruto said, taking another mouthful of her food before holding her head up high. "Besides, I haven't eaten ramen in the past two weeks! This is a new record for me."

"Do you know how stupid you sound?"

"You think I care?" Naruto retorted, taking another bite of her noodles. "You think I complain when you check yourself out every time there is a reflection?"

"Yes, you do."

"No, I say things that makes you think I am complaining about your vanity," Sokka shot her triumph look. "That last one doesn't count because I am defending myself."

Despite saying those words, she was smiling and laughing, which earned a strange look from the younger boy. What was so weird about her smiling? Sure, it was rare for her to smile earnestly but something made her want to do it. Perhaps, she was just tired of feeling sorry for herself.

"Aang, this is the entire village. Entire village, Aang."

Smiling widely, Aang bowed to them but instead of smiling at him, the villagers just took several steps back. Not that it was their fault, the boy in front of them was strange. He was an air bender after all. Not once in her travel, did Naruto ever came across someone that could control the air; not unless they were shinobi or if they were like her. The Elemental Nations rarely talked about them, only talking about the powers they had or boasting about having a relative being one of them.

God, this boy was a lost artefact.

"Why are they all looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?"

"Well, we haven't seen an airbender in the last hundred years," Gran-Gran answered, pushing her and Sokka to one side. "We thought they were extinct until my grandchildren and Naru found you."

"E-Extinct?" Aang stuttered, looking wide-eyed at this piece of information. Naruto tilted her head and stared at the young boy, who blinked his eyes at them. Maybe the stories Naruto heard about the airbenders being extinct was wrong. She glanced at her hands, then to the shock boy before shaking her head.

She was being stupid again.

"What is this, a weapon?" Sokka asked, drawing her attention back to reality. "You can't stab anything with this?"

What was it with him and violence? Did he really think a young boy like Aang would bring weapons in here? He was a civilian for goodness sake. Yes, the fact he was stuck inside an iceberg was strange but he didn't have any hint of being a child soldier. He was just a little kid. A little kid who reminded her of Konohamaru with his desire to have fun and his curiosity for the world. Would someone like Aang really have a weapon with him?

He was just too innocent.

"…Naru, are you paying attention?" Katara asked, waving her hand at her. "Don't you think what Aang is doing is cool? I thought you would be aweing and whooping at the sight of him flying. It isn't like you to be quiet."

Oh? He was doing something that amazing? Naruto stared at Aang, who weaved through the many tents in the village, and then to the sky. Lucky kid. Did he know how much she longed to fly? No amount of training she does, could match him. The closest she could ever hope to do when it came to flying was to put chakra in her feet and attempt to climb the air. It was a hard exercise when one had terrible chakra control.

"Naru, is something bothering you? You are never this quiet."

Because she never allowed herself to be this quiet. Quietness made her reflect, made her remember things that she had no desire of remembering. This time she allowed herself to be quiet because it was hard for her not to reflect. Of course, she could never say this to her friend.

"I'm just thinking about how nice it is for him to feel the wind on his face."

 _Crash._

"My watchtower!"

Naruto winced when Aang slammed right into Sokka's badly made watch tower. For a brief second, the tower stood strong but as soon as the young boy pulled his head out of the tower and slid down to the ground, it crumbled into a million pieces.

She smiled when she saw Katara was rushing to help him out of his tower.

Right since the little show was done, it was time for her to go on patrol with her shadow clones because god knew, she did not want to see Sokka badly train those little kids to be some warrior.

* * *

A Fire Nation ship was heading their way.

Naruto tightened her grip on her binoculars as the ship with the fire nation flag sped their way. Why was it coming here? Were they actually coming here because of that stupid light? No, she was jumping to conclusions again. The blonde gritted her teeth, channelled her chakra into her eyes and inspected the ship. It was definitely not a cargo ship with how small and ancient it was. A warship? It was a possibility.

Why?

" _ **Because of the boy,"**_ Naruto lowered her binoculars and bit her lips. " _ **The idiot Sokka wasn't wrong when he said that light would have alerted everyone. That light is connected to one thing."**_

" _You're suddenly talkative today, Kyuubi. You've been quiet for the past week, why did you decide now of all times to talk to me? And what is that one thing?"_

The fox did not answer her question instead he just cut the connection between them, like he always does whenever he wanted to make her plead for his answer. He was a sadist in this sense. It was torture not knowing anything. She sighed and stared out at the boat.

" _ **It is connected to the Avatar."**_

Naruto blinked at that word. The Avatar? Wasn't the Avatar just some legend to give hope to these people? If the Avatar did existed then why wasn't the person stopping the war? And how was that light connected to the Avatar and Aang? She bit her lips and stared into the binocular, noticing how the boat was moving in a slow pace with its tail moving in a different direction. Maybe, they were not actually coming here, she thought, putting her binoculars down to her side.

 _Boom._

Jumping from her spot, Naruto twisted her head and gawked at the sight of a flare going up into the air. Bringing her binoculars up, the blonde thinned her lips at the sight of a familiar little boy carrying a familiar girl hoping like a rabbit from the abandoned ship. Did Katara not tell the boy not to go there? Did she actually decide to break the rules just for that boy? First off, it seemed like her friend like the boy more then her. Second off, why didn't they invite her with them? She always wanted to explore the ship.

Shaking her head, the blonde returned her attention to the ship. Her hands shook as the ship changed its course from heading east, to heading north. They heard the explosion, which meant they wanted to find the source. They were going to attack the village and for what? Because some boy decided that it would be a good idea to explore the ship.

" _ **They cannot take him,"**_ Kyuubi said as Naruto jumped down the ship. _**"Listen to me brat, if the Fire Nation find that boy then the world is in danger."**_

Naruto raised her eyebrow. _"Grumpy demon fox actually cares for some kid? Why is the world going to be in danger if they took Aang? He isn't anyone important. Also since when you care about humans? You always talk about eating them."_

" _ **I knew you were slow but I didn't expect you to be this slow,"**_ Naruto growled but the fox just ignored her. _**"That boy isn't just anyone. He is the Avatar that decided to run away from his destiny."**_

" _The Avatar has been missing for a hundred years! You expect me to believe that a little kid like Aang can be the Avatar?"_ Naruto asked, rushing towards the village. _"Also, how do you know that he is the Avatar?"_

" _ **Did anyone tell you that you ask too many questions!"**_ Kyuubi snarled. _**"I have lived for a thousand years' brat! I can sense the damn Avatar and spirts like to gossip! Before I was sealed, there had been whispers about the Avatar's disappearance and where he went."**_

Naruto stopped running. " _Is that why you insisted that I come here? You knew he was going to be here?"_

 _ **"I didn't insist that you come here,"**_ The Kyuubi said and if the fox had a physical body, he would have turned his head up at her. _**"You decided to come here because you were so damn curious about the waterbenders; I just helped speed up your curiosity. You were going to come here eventually especially considering that wandering spirit of yours."**_

" _I didn't choose to leave."_

The Kyuubi didn't say anything to her, did not even dare to contradict her words like she thought he would. Maybe he realized the truth behind her words. She didn't have a choice to leave Konoha. Despite what many people thought, she only had one option. As long as she was his jinchuuriki, as long as she couldn't control him, then the blonde could never ever go home.

Not that she wanted too.

* * *

"You were the one to cause the explosion?" Sokka yelled when she entered the village with her hands in her pockets. The villagers stared at her like she murdered their pets. Did they really think she was stupid enough to do this? She cared for these people. Despite lying to them about her full name, the blonde didn't want them dead. She wanted them to live a long happy life.

"No," Naruto answered, staring right into her friend's eyes. "Why would you think I would do this? If I had wanted to do this then wouldn't I have done it earlier? It was Aang and Katara who did this."

"Katara would never do this!" Sokka yelled, waving his hands at them. "She knows better than to do this."

"Don't believe me? I saw Aang carrying her like he was some prince charming while that ship exploded," Sokka gawked at her while Gran-Gran slumped her shoulders at her. "Katara isn't perfect, Sokka. Just like you can make mistakes, so can she."

What was her friend? An angel? She might take care of everyone in her family but her friend was still a little girl. Naruto shook her head and turned her body to look at the snow-covered ground that hid the dangers that it could bring. Biting her lips, the blonde started to hum the tune that reminded her of home.

She stopped humming when she saw Katara and Aang walking towards them with a guilty look on their faces.

"Katara, did you and Aang really go into the abandoned ship?" Gran-Gran asked as soon as the two kids were in front of them. The two kids blinked their eyes before glancing at each other with a look that spoke volumes of their guilt. The blonde thinned her lips, stared at Aang and then to her hands.

Avatar?

That kid?

"How did you know?"

"Because I saw you through my binocular," Naruto answered, drawing their attention to her. She took out her binocular from her pockets, earning frowns from the two kids while a distrustful look from the other villagers. Did they think she liked spending her time by spying on them? She was not a pervert. "I should also mention that the Fire Nation ship is heading our way."

"What!" Sokka yelled. "How? When? Why didn't you say this, earlier?"

"Because you immediately accused me of causing that ship to explode," Naruto deadpanned, rolling her eyes at him. "I don't know when they came here but they were going to back south…until the damn explosion happened."

As soon as she finished her words, Gran-Gran sunk to the ground and began to wail. Katara rushed to her grandmother's side along with Sokka, who wrapped his arms around his grandmother's arm. The villagers just stared at her and Aang. They just stared at them like they did not know what to think of them, which seriously hurt her feelings.

She told them the truth.

"It's my fault," Aang muttered, sinking to his knees.

The blonde thinned her lips and stomped towards the younger boy, who took a step back. Taking a deep breath, she wrapped her arms around the boy and pulled him close to her chest. Breath in and out. Hum a small tune. Just let the boy calm down because god knew the terrible scenario that was going through her friend's mind.

She glared at Sokka when he stomped towards them. The teen opened his mouth to argue with her, only to close it when her killer-intention leaked out.

"There is only one way to save them," Naruto muttered into Aang's ear as she held her hand up at her shivering friend. "The Fire Nation wants the Avatar's head. If you run now then they won't be able to hurt them…I will be able to protect them if you do this."

"I'm not…"

The blonde narrowed her eyes. "Who are you lying to? Me? Because I am convinced you are him…after all, you feel guilty for a lot of things." She closed her eyes and remembered every emotion that poured out of him. "You are scared too but I don't know why and I don't care about it. Right now, what I care about is protecting everyone here, including you! The Fire Nation ship is coming here and if they know we harbour you then they will make everyone's life here fucking difficult."

He slumped his shoulders, which normally would make her feel sorry for him, but the stories she heard of the Fire Nation and their actions to the Earth Benders terrified her more. The youngest kid here was barely three, did not know the name of his father and if he were to be torn away from his mother…

She did not want to think about it.

"Do you really think I will make everyone's life hard?" Aang asked.

"For now, but once the Fire Nation ship leaves then everything will be fine but you can't leave with Appa until it is truly out of the way. They will hurt the villagers if they see that they hid you from them," she replied. "Now that is the short term but on the long term, one everyone knows that you are the avatar then you will be worshipped. You have no idea how much people in this side of the world worshipped you, how much they wish you come back…"

Sobbing women who complained that the war would have been over if the Avatar had been here. Merchants telling stories to the children of the Elemental Countries about a person who could bend the elements with the tip of his fingers. The soldiers who whispered in the tarvan about how the Fire Lord was just terrified of one thing and that was the Avatar truly existed.

There were people who thought the Avatar abandoned them.

"The foreigner is banished," Sokka said once she drew her face away from Aang. "Let go of him Naru."

The blonde did not let her hand stray from the airbender's shoulders, instead she tightened her grip on it. Taking a deep breath, Naruto stared hard into her friend's blue eyes. "Banishing Aang from visiting the village is just too much; yes, he caused that flare to go out but he is still a kid. He didn't know any better."

"He endangered us because of his god damn childishness!" Sokka yelled.

"And I am not arguing about that, which is why I think he should start running," Naruto whispered, letting go of Aang. She stood up from the ground, wiped the snow off her clothes and looked up at the sky. "Out of everyone here, Aang is in the most danger from the Fire Nation. He is an airbender and if they find out that he is alive, then they are going to torture him to get info about the Avatar…or kill him so that the Avatar won't be reborn."

Sokka blinked, blinked and blinked his eyes before twisting his head to look at Aang and then to her. Not once did he think about it? The fool thought that the villagers were the only ones endangered? Aang and her were in the most danger. If anyone found out about Aang being an airbender and her being a shinobi from the Elemental Nations then…

She was just getting the shivers just thinking about it.

"Then I should leave too," Katara declared. "If he is leaving then I should leave too!"

"No," Naruto said sharply. "You are going to abandon your family for some boy? Family sticks together, Katara! Do you know how many people would kill to have a grandmother and a brother that adores you?"

How many times did she went to the temple and pray for answers? How many times she went on her knees to beg for the Hokage to have some hint of her ancestry? How often did she stare at Sasuke and his brother? Or how she wished that she had a sister like Hinata did? More times then she could count that was for sure.

"Naruto…"

"It is a different story if you have Gran-Gran permission but I know she won't give you permission," Naruto said, turning her body around. "Now if you excuse me, I am going to start preparing for the Fire Nation ship."

And with those words, the blonde left them to ponder over her words.

* * *

Tying her hair into a tight braid, Naruto stared at her trembling hands and then to the scenery in front of her. Could she do it? Would she be able to hold herself back? Would they know where she was from? Did they know about her? It had been quiet for the past couple of years. Not once did she hear any hint of people looking from her; not that she thought they would.

It would be stupid of her to think that they would care about where she went.

"How are you going to know if they are coming if you are not going to use those binocular?" Sokka asked, glancing at the binocular hanging around her neck. The blonde rolled her eyes, yanked the binoculars from her neck and handed it to the boy, pausing when she realized what the boy did to his face.

"Why the hell are you wearing makeup? Are you going to seduce them?" Naruto asked, quirking her lips upwards. "Maybe I should have warn makeup too if that was the plan to get them to back off."

"It's war paint."

"It is makeup."

"Warpaint should be terrifying," Naruto pointed out. "The thing on your face makes you look like a girl."

Sokka scowled and pulled out his boomerang, twisting and turning his face to see what part of his makeup made him look like a girl. Were all civilian boys as vain as him? She did not know many boys that weren't like her but her friend loved looking at his god damn face. He did know if he wanted to have a girlfriend that he should focus more on his brains right?

Then again, it would take him years to find the girl of his dreams at the rate he was going.

She channelled her chakra to her feet when the ground began to rumble and shake, before grabbing hold of Sokka, who was beginning to wobble from the viberations. The ice below them began to crack in half, earning yells from the villagers. Twisting her head around, Naruto gestured to Katara to send the children and women to the tents. No one needed to see the blood that might be shed in this battle, especially not the little kids.

She didn't want those little kids to be like those kids in the Earth Kingdom, who hated the mere mention of the Fire Nation.

"Naru! Sokka! Get out of the way!" Katara yelled as a huge ship began to loom over them.

Naruto stared at the ship for a good second before sweeping Sokka into her arms and jumping down to the ground. Why was that ship so different from the others? All the ships she had seen in the harbour, even the one that she once snuck into, had been larger then this ship. Was this really a warship? Or was it something else entirely?

Maybe, it would be a good idea not to get into a fight.

Dropping Sokka to the ground, Naruto watched as the bowsprit of the ship opened and folded out down onto the floor of the village. She steadied her shaking hands and held her breath as a thick layer of smoke began to disperse around them. As soon as the smoke disappeared, a bunch of soldiers marched down the slope.

Naruto thinned her lips when Sokka began to take out his boomerang. Grabbing hold of his wrist, the blonde held him close to her side. He tugged and pulled, only to give up when he realized that she was never ever going to let him go. Did the boy think she was going to let him die? He was a non-bender, who did not know how to fight.

He was a boy that did not know how to use chakra and that was why she could never let him fight these monsters.

She tightened her grip on Sokka's wrist when the leader of these men walked towards them. The blonde thinned her lips and scowled when the leader stared at her hair and then to Sokka before glancing at Katara. It was not the first time people openly gawk at her hair colour but it did not mean she loved the attention.

Maybe when she had been younger and more naïve but definitely not now.

"Where are you hiding him?" The leader asked once he was done gawking at her hair colour.

"If you mean Sokka, he is right here," Naruto deadpanned, gesturing to her friend. "But I doubt that you are asking for him, which brings me to my question…who are you looking for?"

"You know who I am looking for!" The leader hissed and the blonde blinked her eyes when she realized that the leader was just a teenage boy barely any older then her. Why would they send him for the Avatar? Shouldn't they bring someone older and more experienced? It was one thing in Konoha but these people were different from her home.

"No, I don't know who you are looking for," Naruto lied, forcing herself to smile at him. "You see how am I suppose to know if you don't tell us? For all I know you could be looking for my friend here or even for me."

"The Avatar." He gritted out. "Where is he?"

"We haven't met the Avatar," Naruto looked at him straight in the eye. "Don't you think if we had met the Avatar that we would have handed him to the Fire Nation or say we have saw him? We don't want any trouble. Since neither of those things happened, I can reassure you that he ain't here."

And it was not a lie.

She informed Aang to run as fast as he could because every word dripping out of her tongue depended on it. None of the villagers knew the airbender Katara found was the Avatar, which made them as safe as any citizen in the Earth Kingdom. The whole thing would change if the boy charge towards them.

"Naru, what are you saying? You're willing to give the Fire Nation the Avatar if he was here!" Katara yelled, drawing her attention to her friend. The waterbender looked at her like she had never seen her before. Everyone looked at her as if she was a monster for saying those words but the blonde ignored them.

"If he was here," Naruto replied, keeping her eyes fixed on the teen's golden eyes. "But he isn't here so we don't have a problem."

The boy curled his lips into a scowl, not any scowl but a scowl Naruto knew all too well from her experience with another brooding boy. The scowl which said that he thought she was lying about not having the Avatar here. What was it with these boys? Did she have something about her which says she was lying? Sasuke had known her since they were kids, knew when she lied about her pranks and had even covered for her in exchange of lying to his fangirls about where he was.

This kid?

She did not know how he figure out she was lying.

"He would be very old," the leader stated, marching towards Gran-Gran. He pulled the older woman away from Katara and placed her in front of all the remaining villagers, who did not have the chance to hide. "He is the master of all elements."

"Everyone knows who the Avatar is," Naruto pointed out, grabbing hold of Gran-Gran when the boy shoved her away. The blonde led her to Katara, who quickly gathered the shaken woman into her arms. "And like I said, we don't have him. Why don't you believe me?"

"Because I know you people are hiding him!" He snarled before launched a wave of flames to the direaction of the floor in which most of the villagers stood. "Tell me where is he?"

The blonde shoved Sokka towards one of the villagers before marching towards the furious boy. In the past few years, she learnt to control her temper, to stop being so reckless but god damn it, reasoning with this guy was pointless. It was for that reason, she did not hesistate to hurl a punch at him.

The boy staggered at her punch but did not fall.

"Do not ever harm these villagers," she hissed at him. "If you even think of doing that again then I can reassure you that I will make my punch ten times harder. Just because I am talking to you, doesn't mean I won't hesistate to kick your ass into the next century."

The boy snorted at her words, looked as if he doubted that she could be strong enough to do that to him. She scowled. What was it with her gender? She slid to the left when the boy tried to hurl a punch at her. Grabbing hold of his wrist, the blonde twisted him around and straddled his back, before pulling out a kunai from her pockets.

She ignored the yells of surprise from the villagers.

Pointing her kunai to his juglar, the blonde smiled sweetly. "Do you know what this is? It is a kunai and despite what you think, I am a trained killer. Now I tried talking calmly to you but it ain't working so we are going to do things the way I want you to do it. We don't have the Avatar so either you leave this place without having a single scar to your pretty face or I murder you. Now take your pick."

"I am not taking those options."

"Okay, we go option C," Naruto said, shrugging her shoulder. Closing her eyes, she quickly formed the hand-seals needed for her shadow-clone jutsu. Everyone gawked at the sight of her fifty clones, who all grinned and waved at them. Shows off.

"You are a shinobi!" He hissed, staring at her clones. "But how?"

"What the hell is a shinobi?" Sokka whispered to Gran-Gran.

"I come from the Elemental Countries and in the Elemental Countries, there are hidden villages that have people trained to kill…they are called shinobi," Naruto explained to Sokka as her clones head towards the soldiers, who gulped at the sight of her furious clones. "Us shinobi use our chakra to fight while you people use bending to fight. Our countries don't really mix well and we are technically stronger then you guys, cause we can do more awesome stuff with our chakra then you guys do with our bending."

"But what brings you here?" He snarled. "There are rules!"

"How is it any of your business? I am a girl that just wanted to see the world," she retorted. "Now let me tell you what is option C. Option C will be my shadow clones murdering every single person in that boat. If you give a damn about your crew, you will pick my first option."

"Option D."

The blonde raised her eyebrow. "Why should I listen to your option?"

"Because it will be an option that will benefit both of us," the leader said, staring right into her eyes. "You want to see the world? You help me in my search for the Avatar and in return, no one gets hurt."

He was gritting his teeth as he said those words to her, speaking volumes of how much it hurt his pride to negotiate with her. Could she do this? She knew she was not going to stay here forever but to go with a boy that threatened to hurt the people here? It was crazy. Too insane even for her yet she needed everyone safe.

He did not know that she was not actually going to kill anyone but he didn't need to know that.

"If I go with you then promise me that no one in this village gets hurt," she said, releasing him from her kunai.

The teen stiffly nodded his head, gesturing to his soldiers to go back into the ship and the blonde sighed. Flickering her eyes to the hill, where she knew Aang was watching them, she smiled. This might be the best way to give him more time. It might be the only way that she could protect this village that treated her with kindness.

"Naru! You are seriously going to do this?" Sokka yelled as she took a step forward to the boat. He run towards her, grabbed her wrist as the leader walked towards the boat. "Why? They could kill you for all you know! Why are you trusting him?"

"I was never treated with kindness when I was a kid," Naruto smiled at him and then to the villagers, who all had tears streaming down their eyes. "I always wanted someone to treat me like I meant something to them…and your village did that. I want you guys to be happy and if it means trusting this guy not to murder me in my sleep then so be it. Besides, I think he will keep his word."

"You think?"

The blonde nodded her head. "My thoughts had never been wrong before!"

And with those words, she entered the ship.

* * *

"We have to go after that ship, Sokka!" Katara yelled as her brother paced back and forth in the village floor, looking at the disappearing ship with anger. "Naru sacrificed her life to protect this village, saved us all and we are going to abandon her?"

"She didn't just save you guys."

The blue-eyed girl twisted her body around and gasped at the sight of Aang standing there with a guilty look on his face. Didn't he leave? Her brother banished him from being here? Why was he still here? And what did he mean she didn't just saved them? Katara glanced at Sokka, who looked like he wanted to yell at the boy to leave.

Her brother wanted to blame him for having Naru taken away from them.

"What are you doing here? Didn't you leave?" Katara asked, glaring at her brother.

"No, Naru told me not to leave until the Fire Nation ship left or until she gave the signal," Aang answered, clenching his hands into a fist. "She told me not to show myself because the Fire Nation would kill me."

"Yeah because you are the airbender," Sokka grumbled. "It is all your fault that this happened."

Aang stared at the disappearing ship and then to her brother before looking at her. The young boy looked at the villagers, all of whom had became sober when they realized that the blonde was never coming back. He glanced back at them and for the first time, Katara realized that there was guilt and defeat shining through his eyes.

"B-Because I'm the Avatar," he admitted. "Naru knew I was the Avatar."

"You're the Avatar!" Katara yelled. "And Naru knew? Why didn't she say a word? And why did you…"

"We can talk about this while we go and save Naru's ass," Sokka interrupted her, picking up his bag. "Now are you going to pack? You know Naru will be disappointed if it was only me that was saving her from them."

"Sokka!"

And that was how their very first adventure started.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review.**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I would like to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter and added this story to their favourites and follows. I know this chapter is short but I did not know how to write this chapter.

* * *

Naruto craned her head as she walked through the ship, furrowing her eyebrows as the stream hit her face. She could her sweat dripping to the ground, not just the ground, to her clothes and to her skin till she was certain that her clothes hugged her tightly. Why did they tied her? She came here, reluctantly mind you, with her own free will. Why should she be tied up like some criminal?

She rubbed her hands, hoping it would ease the ache in her hands which came from her heavy ropes. She bit her lips as the pain doubled, telling her that it would be a terrible idea to rub her hands like this. God damn it, if she hadn't agreed to come here, she would escape from these ropes. It was not the first time she had been tied up like some animals though she had always escaped from it.

If there was one thing she was good at, it was escaping.

' _ **Yeah when you have someone to give you an idea."**_

Naruto scowled at the fox's taunting words. Just because he helped give her one idea, he decided she was a terrible escape artist. It was not like she had the time to make a plan on the spot when she decided to escape. She had been upset for what happened to her. How the hell was she going to plan when upset?

She would have escaped without his help.

They stopped walking when they reached the foredeck where there were many more soldiers waiting for them. Doing a quick count, the blonde concluded there must be around twenty more men in this ship, maybe even more if she didn't think about who was driving this ship. Most of these men looked like they could be the same age as her father while another one looked like he could be her grandfather.

How could this guy, who could only be a year older then her, be the commander of this ship?

Tilting her head, the blonde stared at the boy, who brought her here. She bore her eyes into him, hoping it would make him nervous enough to look at her. Why did he bring her here? What was the point of tying her up? She was going to help him with his search, though not in the way he thought. She never told him she would not point him in the wrong direction.

Though it might be breaking her promise.

In second thought, she should have forced him to take Option A.

She blinked her eyes when she noticed how every man in this ship had their eyes fixed on her hair and her whisker marks.

"Didn't your parents taught you it was rude to stare at people?" Naruto snapped at them. "I know my hair is out of this world but it isn't that special!"

The old man smiled. "On the behalf of the crew, we apologize for our rude staring but it isn't everyday we see someone with your _unique_ hair colour."

"Take a picture, it will last longer," she retorted.

The soldiers scratched their heads at her comment, earning a sigh from the girl. Oh right, these people were prehistoric. No one knew about television, the wonders of having a hot shower but most of all, no one knew about the beauty of photographs. She closed her eyes, feeling the familiar weight in her pants' pocket before look at them again.

"Prince Zuko, why did you bring this girl here?" The old man asked, looking from the top of her head to the bottom of her shoes. He must have been displeased about something about her because he was frowning like there was no tomorrow.

Wait a second…

The guy she threatened to kill was a prince! Didn't princes live in their comfy palaces? Weren't they cowards? This guy looked nothing what she expected from a prince. In fact, he was the complete opposite of what she imagined a prince should be. God damn it, he threatened to hurt the villagers, the kind villagers who did not deserve to get hurt.

"This girl is going to help me find the Avatar," Zuko answered, snapping her from her train of thought. "And she may be able to teach me a technique which will help me defeat the avatar."

The blonde twisted her head at this comment. "Hold up! I never told you I would teach you how to defeat the Avatar! What am I? Crazy. You don't have the ability to use chakra! I just agreed to help you search for this guy!"

"And who do you think you are to question me!" He snapped.

"The girl who doesn't want any blood in her hands!" She yelled. "Even if you did have chakra, it would be so low that any jutsu I teach you would kill you. Now I'm sure a lot of people in the Earth Kingdom would be happy for that but I ain't so no Prince Zuko, I will not teach you."

"And what makes you think I'm incapable!" He snapped.

"Who is the kunoichi here, you or me!" He narrowed his eyes at her cheek but the blonde just rolled her eyes at him. "Out of everyone in this damn ship, I'm the most chakra sensitive person you can find and not a single person here has a chakra."

"You will do as I say, you're my prisoner!"

"Prisoner my ass! You think these ropes can keep me here!" She gloated, holding up her ropes. "I can bust my way out of here if I wanted. I beat your ass and if it weren't for the fact I didn't want to stain my hands with blood, I could have murdered every single person in this boat."

"You wouldn't have done it."

The blonde bared her teeth at him, revealing her long canine teeth at him. "Who had put a kunai against your throat? If I wanted too, I could have sliced your throat and let the blood pour out of you like a mountain."

"You caught me by surprise!"

"Caught you by surprise, my ass! You're as slow as a snail!" she gloated.

The way the boy growled at her almost reminded her of those cute little kittens, who tried so hard to be tough only to look cute. Did he think he could scare her? He had never seen sweet Hinata, who always activated her byakugan when furious. He never faced the Kyuubi, who once terrified her so much that she nearly peed in her pants. In fact, she would have peed her pants if she didn't want the demon to bask in the knowledge he terrified her.

"Did anyone tell you that you're frustrating?" He growled.

" _How can you not understand!"_

Sasuke had yelled those words of frustration when she demanded he explained to her about the science concept their teacher taught them. He spent a whole five hours trying to explain it to her but not once did Naruto understood what her best friend said. He used to pinch his nose, sigh in annoyance before trying again, just until it was knocked into her head.

When he did that, Naruto knew he cared about their secret friendship.

Too bad, he didn't care enough to stay in the village with her.

"A lot of people," she said, smiling widely at him. "Did anyone tell you that you're an ass?"

He growled and opened his mouth to say something, only to close it when they heard a loud frapping noise. Immediately, Naruto felt dread and anger creeping into her heart as the realisation of what was happening sink into her head. There was only one person who could do this. One person stupid enough to try and risk their life to save her.

God damn it, what was the point of going with this asshole if they acted like this?

"What is that!" Zuko yelled, gawking at the sight of it.

"That's Aang's flying bison," Naruto automatically answered. He twisted his head at her as if asking her how she knew that but the blonde just thinned her lips and looked up in the air. If she was sitting down, she would have hit her head against the chair at the sight of Sokka and Katara sitting on the bison with Aang on their side.

What part of protecting the Avatar did they not understand?

"You've some explaining to do," Zuko gritted out. "You said you would have told me if the Avatar was in the village."

The blonde smiled. "Yes, I did and Aang was not in the village when you asked me the question…so technically I didn't lie. I just withheld information."

"It's the same damn thing!"

"No, lying requires effort," she said slowly. "Withholding information just means keeping quiet…so no effort. It is not my fault you didn't ask the right questions!"

"When I capture the avatar, the both of us are going to have a talk about working together."

 _You mean you are going to talk and I will pretend to listen,_ Naruto thought to herself as Aang jumped down from his bison, followed by Katara and Sokka. The whole ship shook when the pre-teen slammed his glider to the ship's floor, causing several of the guards to fly. She raised her eyebrows at her two friends, thinned her lips at Aang and took a seat on the ground. There was no way she was going to get involved in a fight, not when she had an unfair advantage over them.

"Naru! We came to rescue you!" Aang said.

Oh yeah, she was that slow in figuring it out.

"He's just a kid!" Zuko yelled, gawking at the sight of Aang. "I spent years training to capture him and he's a kid!"

The blonde nodded her head. "It surprised me too when I figured out that he is the Avatar. You would think the Avatar would be just a little bit older but then again he had been frozen in ice for over a hundred years."

"He's a kid!" Zuko muttered.

"Well you're just a teenager!" Aang retorted, tightening his grip on the glider.

The two benders circled around each other, reminding her of the time when Akamaru got into a fight with one of the street dogs. They had done the same exact thing, waiting to show who was the head alpha of the street. Right now in this situation, she felt like she was this street. Seriously, what part of that she had this handled did they not understand?

She rolled her eyes when Aang swirled the wind around him and threw it at the older boy, who ducked under the attack while launching a flame attack at them. When this was all done and over with, she was going to have a few choice of words with the young boy about his priorites.

If anything happened to him, she would never hear the end of it.

"You said he wasn't going to harm you!" Sokka whispered.

The blonde blinked her eyes and twisted her head around to see Sokka pulling out his boomerang. In the corner of her eye, she could see Katara pulling the water up from the ocean, swirling it around and whipping it at the soldiers. It should really touch her heart that they were doing this for her and maybe three years ago, she would have wept tears of joy.

Three years of being away from home and watching the world around her made Naruto realize that she could not always be the same girl.

"And he didn't hurt me," Naruto stated.

"He tied you up."

"Being tied up did not hurt me, if anything I'm annoyed on his lack of trust!" The blonde corrected, knocking the boy's boomerang away with her tied-up fist. "And the same goes for you and Katara! Do you really think I don't know how to escape from a damn boat! If I wanted too, I could have escaped before I even entered the ship!"

"Then why didn't you! And why are you refusing my help!" Sokka whispered, putting down the boomerang.

The blonde thinned her lips and stared at Aang and Zuko. The two of them had been at it for a while now, sweat dripping from their faces as they exchange blows. All around the two were sliced machinery, walls and flames. This was too much chaos and all for what? To save her from some guy, who was not as bad as some people she knew.

"I don't know how the people of the Water Tribes see promises but I gave him my word," Naruto said, keeping her eyes fixed on Zuko as he did several impressive acrobatic moves to shoot fire at Aang. "People used to make promises to me. One friend promise me that we will be friends forever, didn't happen. I had to see a friend die all because of an oath he made to himself. I had an old man promise me that he would tell me about my parents if I became chunin or turned sixteen; he died before that happen. You know what I learnt? I learnt if you gave a promise, you keep to it."

"But he's evil!" Sokka snarled. "He wants to capture the Avatar! Are you really going to let him?"

Evil? Zuko? She had been around him for a few hours now and in those few hours, she realized two things: he was touchy about everything and that he had not aimed to kill the Avatar. In the ten minutes that Zuko had been fighting Aang, he had been careful not to aim in the areas that would seriously damage the kid. It had been in the same in the village. In the village, he could have made a better statement by burning one of those villagers but instead he chose the floor, to make it seem like he would not hurt someone.

How could she think he was bad when she had to think of these things.

"Do you really think he can capture Aang?" Naruto questioned him, noticing how the boy was slowing down and that the injuries he sustained were going to make him faint soon. "Because as long as I'm with him, I will try my best to make sure he doesn't capture him."

"Naru…"

"I know you think it is your duty to protect the girls in your tribe but you never ever needed to protect me or even Katara," Naruto informed him. "I know you think being with the Fire Nation is the worse fate ever but I have seen worse. Zuko is an ass but if you take the time to see his actions, you will see he has the potential to be good."

"Do you know what you're saying!"

"Surprisingly enough yes," Naruto said. "I'm trying to sound wise for once you know with all these fancy words but I guess it ain't working. Listen Sokka when you had a life like mine, you learn a lot of things to survive: one of them is watching people. So trust me when I say he isn't the worse. For the sake of our friendship, take Aang and Katara and get them a master that can teach them waterbending. In times like these, you need to abandon me."

There was conflict in his eyes as he stared at her tied hands, at Aang and Zuko and then at her eyes. If he kept debating about it then Naruto would make the decision easy for him. Kakashi always had the belief that comrades who abandon their friends were worse then trash but, now as she sat here and saw the battle in Sokka's head, she knew the saying was in conflict with each other. Today Sokka and Katara would need to abandon her but it would not make them trash.

It would never ever make them trash because they were going to protect the Avatar and the Avatar was always going to be _more important than her_.

"Sokka! What is taking you so long!" Katara yelled as she twisted the water into a towel and flung it at the soldiers. "The rope can't be that tight."

Closing her eyes, Naruto whipped her hands into a familiar hand seal. She ignored the gasp of surprise from Sokka when the ropes in her wrist slid down smoothly. Dusting the dirt off of her clothes, the blonde eyed Appa and then stared at her gasping friend.

"Sorry Sokka but I'm not that important in the long run."

"W-Why are you…" Naruto slammed her fist against her friend's head, knocking him down to the ground. Smiling tightly, she picked him up and jumped up to where Appa was floating and dropped the boy there. Jumping back down, she forced herself to smile at Katara, who looked like she broke her favourite clothes by knocking her brother unconscious. Considering the fact she knocked out the person who tried to rescue her, it was understandable that the girl was very angry with her.

"Naru! Why did you do that to Sokka!"

"I am going to do the same thing to you if you don't grab Aang and run," Naruto said, shifting her body into fighting position. She narrowed her eyes at the fuming girl. "I did that to Sokka in just five seconds, it will take me twenty minutes max to do the same to you. Do you really think I don't know how to escape? Escaping is my middle name…well it should be anyway."

"Naru…"

"You have five seconds before I kick your ass to where your brother is and don't think I won't do it."

She could see Katara hesitating but it must have been clear that Aang was getting pretty tired from his fight, because she reluctantly nodded her head. Grinning wildly, the blonde made her way towards the bottom of the ship. If Katara was going to do her job then Naruto would need to do her job.

After all, how was Katara and her friends going to have a headstart if the ship was still perfectly in place?

* * *

"What part of capturing the Avatar did you not understand!"

Naruto watched as the flames surrounding Zuko's room rise and fall rapidly, mimicking the feelings that the older boy must be feeling. She glanced at the torn half of the walls, a result of the explosion she caused in the radiator. The explosion had not only given enough time to Aang and Katara to escape but it also caused the ship to be split into half, which meant they would need to do repairs soon.

At this rate, they probably would be a week or two behind Aang, which would hopefully give him enough time to find a waterbending master.

"I thought an explosion would injure him!"

"It would have gotten us killed," He roared. "He was in my grasp and you let him escape!"

It had been a risk she had been willing to take if it meant that Aang could leave the ship. It was a risk she would take again and again to make sure the boy learnt all his bending. What was her life compared to a kid who had to save the god damn world? Little that was what. Besides, there was not many people that were going to miss her if she died.

"Well think of the good thing that came from it."

"What good thing!" He snarled. "Tell me what could be possibly good thing that came from it! My ship is nearly in pieces because of the explosion you caused! The Avatar escaped! Some of my crewmembers are injured because of the actions you caused! What good thing!"

"Well you now know that the Avatar is just a kid and you shouldn't think he is a weakass kid; I mean he nearly whipped your ass," he growled at her words but the blonde just ignored him. "Second, you now know that I won't leave you for them since they did come to rescue me but I didn't go with them. Finally, only members of this crew knows who is the Avatar!"

"How are you so happy!" He yelled.

"Simple I decide to think of all the things that makes me happy," she said slowly. "You should try it sometime instead of being angry; maybe then your wrinkles will go away."

"Wrinkles! I don't have any wrinkles!"

"Whatever makes you happy!" she sang as the teen looked for signs of aging in his mirror.

Today she confirmed one thing: all princes cared about their appearance even if they come from a different culture.

* * *

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think about this chapter, specifically between the interactin of Naruto and Zuko.


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